Afghan civilian deaths jumped 15% last year: UN report

War-related Afghan civilian deaths jumped 15% to 2,777 in 2010, according to a UN report released today. A total of 4,343 were injured last year.

At least 10 Afghan civilians, including eight schoolchildren, have been killed in fighting involving Western troops in Narang district of Kunar Province in Afghanistan.

rawa.org and Wikimedia Commons

The annual report on civilian deaths in Afghanistan found that anti-government forces killed 2,080, up 28% and representing 75% of the death-toll. Suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) made up 55% of the deaths attributed to anti-government forces.

Anti-government forces assassinated 462 civilians, of which half occurred in southern Afghanistan, representing an increase of 105% from 2009.

Deaths caused by the US-led coalition and Afghan security forces declined by 26%, according to the report. It found that 440 civilians were killed, making up 16% of the total deaths.

The war continued to have “a devastating impact on women and children,” the report stated. Deaths and injuries totaled 555 for women, and 1,075 for children. These figures increased from 2009, the report found.

The report comes a little over a week since US-led coalition troops mistakenly killed nine Afghan boys in an air strike, which prompted an apology from Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in the region.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the incident and noted that less than 10 days earlier, another incident had "that left many civilians dead in the same province."